Automated banking machines are known in the prior art. A common type automated banking machine is an automated teller machine (ATM). Automated banking machines are commonly used to conduct transactions such as dispensing cash, making deposits, paying bills and receiving statements. Other types of automated banking machines are used by service providers such as retail clerks and bank tellers to obtain cash from a storage area. Other types of automated banking machines are used to dispense and receive checks, scrip, tickets, vouchers and coupons. For purposes of this disclosure an automated banking machine shall be considered to be any machine which performs transactions involving transfers of value.
Automated banking machines such as ATMs commonly dispense cash in the form of currency notes to a user from a supply within the machine. Provisions must be made in such machines to periodically replenish the cash which is dispensed. This often involves having an armored car service or similar personnel open the machine and replace the canisters which hold currency sheets or other sheets representative of value.
Some automated banking machines also accept deposits from customers. Commonly such deposits are accepted in envelopes. The deposited envelopes are marked with identifying indicia and stored in a secure enclosure within the machine. Periodically personnel open the machine, remove the deposit envelopes and verify that the amounts actually deposited correspond to the amounts indicated by users as being deposited in the machine. Again this process typically involves having the deposit envelopes removed by personnel under secure circumstances so that deposited fulnds are not lost or stolen.
Some types of currency recycling automated banking machines have been developed. In such machines currency deposited by one customer is identified and stored. The stored currency may then be retrieved from storage and provided to another customer who requests a withdrawal of cash from the machine. Currency recycling machines are not common in the United States due to difficulties associated with identifying and handling the sheets which comprise the U.S. currency bills. In addition current recycling machines generally have limitations associated with slow speeds, reliability and relatively high cost.
Thus there exists a need for a media storage system for automated banking machines that is more economical, and which operates at higher speeds with greater reliability. There further exists a need for a media storage system in an automated banking machine that enables both storing currency or other sheets in a storage area and dispensing sheets from the storage area so that sheets deposited into the machine by one user may be dispensed to another user.